Review: Pittsburgh Cafe

by gigi on July 24, 2007

I went with John and Louis today to the Pittsburgh Cafe at Crystal Mall in Burnaby. It is actually spelled “Pittsburg” but I am a stickler for spelling so I refuse to spell something wrong on purpose, even if it was spelled incorrectly on a sign. It is a Hong Kong-style cafe that serves a mix of Asian and Asian-style Western dishes.

Coincidentally or not, the three of us all ordered basically the same thing. Louis and John had the curried pork cutlet with rice and I had the curried chicken with rice. What can I say, it was a day for curry.

First came our drinks. This was basically the only place where our choices differed. The mini meals we had all chosen came with our choice of a drink. Because we all chose cold drinks, there was an extra $0.80 charged. But at a base cost of $7.25 for each of our mini meals, this was a pretty good deal.

I had a cold Ovaltine, which is a kind of chocolaty malt drink. Sometimes this can taste pretty watered down but today, it wasn’t bad. Louis had the iced lemon tea, which came with fresh lemons that you had to mash with your spoon in order to release the lemon taste. John had an iced Hong Kong-style tea & coffee drink.

Louis and John each had the curried pork cutlet with rice. The pork was lightly breaded and deep fried and then immersed into the curry sauce. It also came with some roasted potatoes and deep fried onion strips.

The rice came on a separate plate and was probably equivalent to 2-3 bowls of rice. More than enough for lunch…especially when you have to go back to work afterwards.

I forgot to take a picture of my curry chicken with rice but just imagine the same looking dish of curry as above, but substitute the pork with chicken. My chicken was a bit on the salty side but the potatoes had a nice roasted taste and the curry sauce was just the right amount of spicyness.

Pittsburgh Redux

I went to Pittsburgh Cafe again a couple of days later with Louis, John, and Dustin. Here are some shots of the meals we tried this time around:

John had a baked spaghetti with meat sauce. It was made Hong Kong style, which meant the sauce is a bit sweet and ketchupy, especially when compared to Western-style spaghetti dishes.

Louis and Dustin both had the baked chicken with a cheese alfredo sauce. Apparently, this is a popular choice with people. The sauce looked to be a bit on the heavy side but Louis assured me it was very tasty.

I had the baked beef tongue and tomato with spaghetti. If you have never tried beef tongue before but you like the taste of beef, you should try this at least once.